5 Minutes with Brian and Guest Cohost Billy

This ain't no backyard story. This ain't no quiet tail. It's the fence show in Vegas where legends set sail. What a vinyl, steel or aluminum shine. Automatic gates, the cutting edge design. Brian's here and you know he's a man. Cowboy hat got the master plan. It's the number one show in the nation. You got your destination. Still a B on display. Come to Vegas. Don't let this slip away.

The strip's got it blitz, but we've got the grid. Access control so slick you won't want to quit. Every post, every panel, standing tall and proud at the show. We're drawn to crowd style dreams to city gates. This is where innovation away the desert call. This show's got it all. Show got your destination. Still on display.

Vo got come at your destination. I

Don't let this slip away.

What's going on? What's going on, man? How are you doing? I don't know if that music audio was off on the intro. Was it, bro? That was epic. That was epic. I don't know if you could see me or not, but I was definitely dancing around. That was epic, man. Is that I don't know if it stuck on my end or what, but that was funny. Oh, that was awesome, man. Was that AI or did you guys have that produced? That was uh No, I think I killed it off a little early, but man, I we're going to we're going to be releasing that whole song and a couple more at the fence show. So, so we uh we had someone help us with that and then uh we kind of helped write it and then uh it just kind of just it came to fruition over a period of a month or so. So, that was like somebody actually playing the music that wasn't like they I think they they had someone else help with the assistance of some AI and all that stuff. Dude, that was awesome. That was epic, man. That was great, man. So, man, you I was watching you last night, man. So, you just jumped off uh I mean, one podcast to another, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One podcast uh back uh back to the fence line and then here for the second podcast. I'm literally still in my work clothes uh all dirty and stuff still. So, yeah. Dan. Well, let's let's do a shameless plug for you for uh the second best podcast of uh Tuesday after the women of FWA because I I don't want them coming after me. But um at all, not at all. Gatekeepers was killing it last night, man. Yeah, man. So, you can find the Gatekeepers podcast on uh Facebook, YouTube, and all of the major audio platforms. uh live show Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. Audio version is uploaded. Uh I try to get it done at the end of the night on Tuesday so it's ready for Wednesday, but sometimes it doesn't make it until Thursday or Friday. So by the end of the week, there's a new audio episode and uh you can catch me on there. Oh, so you stream it over to the uh you know, I never know how that works. Susan handles all that in the back end. So I know she goes over to some of those audio channels where you can listen to in your car. They still call those podcasts or something else? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Those are actually real podcasts. Um, I guess uh because I was explaining to uh one of my guys today, he was uh he was like, "Hey, man. Uh just uh I was scrolling Facebook this morning uh waiting to leave for work and I saw that like you do a video podcast. All this time I thought you only do audio." I was like, "Yeah, it's video." He was like, "Well, then how is that a podcast?" I was like, "Dude, you're thinking way too far into this right now." See, I always thought this was what the podcasts were. The audio stuff I thought was I'm like, "Who would do that?" I'm like, "What's the point if uh if it's just audio, then go to I found out not too long ago that a lot of the stuff is audio. It doesn't even go video." Most of it is audio, man. I'm not going to lie. I love I love my uh drug kingpin uh cod uh like podcast. Uh especially if I got like a long drive to go, man. Uh, I will throw on something Pablo Escobar to anything and I just listen, man. Uh, sometimes I'm not in the mood for music, so I like that. So, what's new, man? What's going on over at over in your life? You're, uh, just building fence away, right? Just building, uh, just building away at some fence. Um, uh, let's see. We're finally starting to cool off here, thankfully. Um, we're getting a breeze back. Um, I don't know if you've ever been to Florida in August, but uh it's pretty stagnant. Uh, we lose a lot of wind during that month. So, it's extremely hot and stagnant. So, we're starting to get some wind picking back up. Uh, temperatures are dropping. So, it's about to be prime fence building weather here in Florida. Um, and then of course, uh, we have all of the trainings going on. I did one two weeks ago. Uh, couple guys out of North Carolina, a couple guys out of South Florida. Um, and it was really fun, man. It was really cool. I love the trainings where people have not touched a certain um like discipline of fence. Uh, like there was one guy who had never even installed chain link. Never even thought about it installing it. Uh, so that was pretty

Cool to uh show him. Uh, he was very excited after he left. I think he was just kind of intimidated by it like a lot of us are like when we first start. Yeah. Um, so that was cool. Um, and then of course you um, like you guys can sign up for trainings anytime as well. Um, I know I've said this all on my podcast. It doesn't have to be a scheduled date and then you know you have to work around that schedule. If you guys want to come on, come on, Oh, Brian, what's going on, man? What's up? Hey guys, how you doing? I almost forgot this is an exhibitor uh episode. Look, I'm actually working on badges in here today. Right on. Brian, what's going on? Speaking of uh perfect weather, not like you guys over in Florida. Uh Brian over there in sunny California. Yeah, I bet you got perfect weather over there. Yeah, weather. That's what you pay for. It's not cheap. And this is expo season for you, right, Brian? Oh, yeah. I've been traveling non-stop and next month is also non-stop. Yeah. Yeah. Just the next big one is the fence show. Awesome. Show. We're super excited. Yeah, super excited to get you up here. And if everybody doesn't know, Brian, um, owner of BD Loops, which is, uh, I'm pretty sure it's all of our go-to loops, uh, for inground and saw cut loops that are out there. Not just that, it's your go-to person for, uh, any advice or anything. And then, Brian, if you remember, I don't think we talked about it on online since since, uh, I think I called you because one of the one of our members was having an issue with uh, something they were doing trying to get a loop in, and it was like an odd situation where it was half concrete was already poured, right? If I remember correctly, the driveway was poured in concrete and the other half was uh still dirt and you figured out some figure eight loop design that you ended up showing me that I didn't even know existed. Yep. That was uh that was a really unique application. We got the customer taken care of. Uh thanks for making them to get contact with me. He contacted you first and then you said, "Hey, I I know a loop guy." And you brought me in. He was using my product already, so I was happy to provide the support. But everything went smoothly. And you know what? He hasn't called me back since, so I'm assuming everything's working like it's supposed to. Yeah. Well, sorry. Go ahead, Billy. That's always a good thing if they don't call you back, right? Yeah. I talk to a lot of people every day and the only call backs I get is when there's additional questions they have is about the same product. Yeah. And as soon as I heard it was Bey Loops, I'm like, man, one thing I know about Brian is if it's his loop, he, you know, it doesn't he doesn't care where you bought it from. He, you know, his name's on it. So, you could call up and he'd rather help you work through a situation and get that loop uh so it doesn't, you know, so it doesn't hurt the brand, right? You want that loop to work. Yep. You know, and that's just part of the Bey brand. Every single loop out of the package works because we do the testing, because we do that leg work. We wouldn't have the reputation we have without that. Yeah. and I've done a tour of your facility. It is something else. I mean, the amount of testing that they do on their loops is just crazy that go out. Uh, first question, uh, Billy, what do we got here? My guys have specific tastes when it comes to diggers. Any recommendations and, uh, where I can find good ones? What do you use? This is from Vincent Mantgna. I'm sorry if I butchered your name. Um, so my personal favorites are going to be any steelhandled diggers, uh, that are not fiberglass. Um, I have a tendency to want to jab them in there and twist and whenever I do that with the fiberglass ones, I break them. Um, lots of my guys don't like the steel ones because they're heavy, but honestly, you get get quite used to it and you get a free workout, so there's that. So, uh, I don't use the steel. We like the the wooden ones, but uh uh we use the clam shell, obviously, and we get

Ours I think a lot of ours come from builders. That's just because it's one of the trucks that delivers to us, and that's where we've been getting them. But um I I mean, Brian, you don't probably do a lot with digging holes, so I don't assume you have a lot of diggers. Hey, and in direct burial applications, sometimes you use trenchers. So that's that's that's a that's a different variable. But probably my best advice is I'm pretty sure there's going to be some of those manufacturers or distributors selling and representing those products at the fence show in just a couple weeks. So if that person's going there, they're going to make the contacts, make the connections, talk with other industry professionals to get those products. Yeah. Yeah. And definitely um there's definitely going to be people selling diggers at the show. Exactly. There's gonna be multiple people selling different diggers. So I like what you said, Brian. talk to other people that are at the show as well. And we're going to be using Fence Social. Um there'll be hopefully there'll be thousands of people uh actually using the Fence Social app at the same time. You can actually ask questions, communicate with everybody at the show or even talk to people like like just what you just found out right now. Just with just having us three on there, two of us that use diggers almost every day and we both had different opinions of what we use. So have right and you use trenchers. So have a conversations with as many people as you can and get some recommendations on um what they use and why. I mean he he likes to twist his so therefore the fiberglass ones would start to break or even splinter right next thing you know you got fiberglass splinters in your hand and uh you know we like to use the wood handles as kindling you know later on so we only like them to break but we lost Brian all right what's up guys how are y'all good wood defender what's happening man thanks for having us back on we appreciate the time absolutely hopefully the connection is gonna hold up I'm here at a hotel in Mansville So, we do a training class every month that I fly back from for Nashville. And uh somehow the internet was not as good as I remember. So, I'm hotspotting right now. So, hopefully you guys can hear me. We do we do the free monthly training class. It's open for anyone who wants to sign up for it. Just got to get to Mansfield, Texas to check it out. So, that's what I just wanted to right off the top in case I lose you because I have a terrible connection. But, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Wood Defender, um you guys can be at the show. what um what what do you guys specialize in for the people that don't know who you are, but I'm pretty sure most people watching probably have heard of Wood Defender at some point, but uh give a quick rundown of of you know who you guys are and what you do. Yeah, so Wood Defender, we're oil based um deck and fence stain. We've been around since 52. Uh we've had the Wood Defender line, standard paint has been around since 52. We've had the Wood Defender line, which is far and away our best product. That's what everyone knows us for, um since about the 90s or so. But it's 100% oil-based product. um put it onto the wood, the wood is sat as long as it's saturated, takes what it needs and the rest falls off the fence and it leaves you a beautiful finish and you're going to protect your fence or deck or pergola or aderond chair for for years to come. So yeah, it's pretty good stuff. Uh we have pretty good industry partners. We're excited to be back at the TFA or the FWA. Sorry, we're in the TFA also. But a shameless shameless plug for Hey, we're all the same people, man. We're all the same people. Yeah, it's all I can't remember all the all the FBI codes and all the alphabet codes. So, um but yeah, we're excited to be a part of it. It's going to be a good show. I think we are in booth 301 if you guys want to come see us. We're actually doing an education session also. So, um on the 2nd of August, we're going to be doing profitability and staining at 11. So, if you guys are had questions about staining, you're not adding it to, you don't have it in your business lineup right now and you're hanging wood at all, you have questions about it, um how

It could benefit your customers, um I was talking to someone the other day. I don't know a lot of residual services you can do in the fencing industry, but staining, I mean, you can go back and restain the same fence every four, five, six, eight years. So, And it's a good product, too. And word of mouth is great. So, you put up a brand new pretty wooden fence and you stain it, people are going to ask questions about where it happened. Who did it? And the way some of us build fence, right, Billy? Um, we can replace the same fence every three, four years, too. You can build the fence and stain it every four years. Absolutely. So, if any of you, we did a lot of our stain work from where we build the fences from. So, yeah, that's awesome. And if any of you guys went to uh Fence Tech uh last year, we had the bucket. She was a big hit. So, the bucket's gonna be back. I hope you're gonna bring her. I don't know if I should have mentioned it, but the bucket's going to be back. So, now you know. Oh, nice. Nice. Everybody's gonna be excited about that. So, uh, absolutely. There you go. Let's see how many people uh can get photos with the bucket girl. Yeah. This posted on fence social. I'll post it on fence social. So, you're the ter uh territory manager for the Southeast. Yeah. So, I'm based out of Nashville. I cover It's almost the whole East now. Um, I have a little more territory. It seems like it's growing every day almost, but um I'm from Texas. That's where we're based out of just south of Fort Worth here in Mansfield where I'm at today. But um I cover the whole Southeast based out of Nashville. It's a good spot. Yeah. So um I heard that Susan, our executive director, was going to wear the costume or something is what she was saying this year. Really? Look at that. Did she be in the bucket? Who's it going to be in the bucket? Oh my gosh, that's awesome. So what do you got new products coming out? anything that uh you you think that someone needs to come by and look at? Yeah, so we actually uh we added a new color to our 200 series lineup. Um it's uh it's you know we have had some of the same stuff for years because if it's not broken, we don't fix it, right? So if you just want something that's going to be dependable and last, we have we kind of run that horse into the ground. So we have some exciting stuff just by the nature of what it is and it's worked for so long. So, we've had a couple of retoolings here and there, but um ultimately we've kind of stayed on that one path of this looks great the way it is and we have added colors and taken them off throughout the years. But, so is the darker the color. I mean, I don't do any wood, so I'm It's always like a mystery. I mean, besides the wood fence you see on the wall behind us, that's the last This is about This is all the wood fence I built in like the last two years you see. It looks great. It looks great. Yeah. And it was a panel from Home Depot. I think this was Home Depot or Lowe's I bought this panel from. So, we lost him. All right. George, how's it going, guys? I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me back on. I don't know if you remember. I make you We make the concrete fence post. We got a I think I showed you guys the sample last time. Yes, sir. Figured I I don't think we got much into accessories, but I figured I'd have some accessories to kind of showcase different bracketry that we've got that kind of you can use for different fences. So, like this is a U-bolt that you'd use for like a wire mesh fence or things like that. And then here we've got like a corner post bracket for a ranch rail fence um or a picket fence. Um so, kind of just figured I'd bring some bracketry. Again, I don't think we kind of got too deep into the bracketry stuff, but this is what you'd use for straight ranch rail or picket fence. Nice. Kind of just anybody who did not catch the last show, uh, tell us again what you offer. Yeah, so we make pre-stressed concrete posts for fencing applications. Pre-stressed concrete's flexible concrete. So most people think of

Concrete as brittle. It's not brittle um when you pre-stress it. So uh it basically makes it flexible like bounce on a trampoline almost level flexible. They uh they've been using the concept for a long time in bridges and parking structures and in Europe they use it for fence posts and all kinds of posts. Uh we brought it to the US the last couple years and in the last sixish months have been really kind of diving into the fence uh industry and starting to get some installations. So, you know, figured we'd uh we'd join the fence show. Nice. So, that um show me that one again. The post. Show everybody that the post itself. Yes. So this is So do we just if we want a six foot tall one, do we just stack a bunch of those on top of each other? Is it coming off? No. So this is just a tiny sample piece that I have on my desk because it's convenient. Um the one of the first times we ever poured it, this is kind of what gets cut off because you've got this strand sticking out. So this strand is what makes the flexibility. Um rather than like rebar, this is tension strand. And I thought it was really nice as like a hey, I can show someone exactly how the what the strand looks like. and then a small piece. But we manufacture everything from uh six foot fence posts or six foot posts to 24 foot tall posts. Do you have the ones that arch over like you see in some of the I see some of the country different countries use concrete pillars that go arch over so you get the barb wire on top or something or a fence going that so we don't make that specifically but you know um it is something that people do do with concrete is you can make a curved post that basically you know uh doesn't rot, rust, burn, right? It lasts forever. Um, that's kind of the general idea of the concept of using concrete instead of wood or steel is, you know, it it lasts forever. Um, some of the that are in the ground in Europe have been there for 50 plus years. So, wow. There we go. How are we going to pound the Can we pound these in the ground? You think you can pound one of those pounder? Yep. Um, can you? I don't know. I think we got a video coming, don't we? There is a video of of postp pounding that I've got, but I I don't think I'll be able to show you on this. Oh, man. We'll have to bring it on next time. We'll have to bring it on next time. Yeah, we'll have it at the show at booth 109. I'll have video of us using a postpounder. People can come out and see. You guys can come by and take a look. Oh, yeah. All right. So, Ryan Ryan Fischer has a question. He says, "Who's making a 9-in bit to fit groundhogs or little beaver?" You can uh go to www.mmrfencetools.com and get you a 9 in bit to fit a little beaver. I don't know if it fits a groundhog though. I think it's a different attachment I believe. Right. I do think it is a different uh attachment to go on to the augur head. Uh but I know for a fact uh Sean has 9inch bits at mrfencetools.com. Yeah, that's a big bit. That's a that's a big hole. Um, we have some 12 inch, but yeah, I think we got 12 inch for those. Nine, I guess. Yeah, but ours is averaging 10 inch. We like a 10 inch hole, so we'd probably like to get some 10inch bits, but So, uh, everybody everybody that's listening or watching, these questions are coming from the fence industry only page um on Facebook, which is probably one of the most active groups on Facebook. It probably kind of pioneered some of the larger ones. And, uh, it's, you know, out of 20 24,000 16 to 18,000 active members um, currently always pretty much it runs. So, it's a pretty active group. So, if you're looking for a place to ask some questions, see what's going on, go over to Fence Industry Only, drop some questions in, get some answers, and hey, you never know, your question might end up on the Trade Industry podcast being answered by Billy and me. Yeah, it's cool. You guys have known the answer the top your head. The question come in. Yeah. Oh, we lost George. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Good. Good. Bad Dog Tools. I was just talking to you. Do you know Charlie from One Tap Connect? I don't. Oh, I thought some of you I think you

Guys might use One Tap because I was talking to him yesterday and he's like, "Oh, I think those are customers ours." Yeah. Oh my god. I was so embar Yes. They called and I didn't know who the heck they were. And I hung up on him. Oops. And he called back and as soon as I hung up on him, I saw the thing on my desk and I was like, "Oh, that f word." And then he called me back which was really good and really nice on his part. So yes. Yes, I do know. That's too funny. Yeah, because we was I was just having dinner with him uh yesterday and we were talking about the exhibitors at the show and how many of the exhibitors were customers of One Tap Connect which is uh you know longtime friend now and and actually exhibitor at the show and stuff and we met through um a lot of this stuff. So it's amazing. Yeah. You met them at the show? Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. It's amazing how how how, you know, one degree apart we all are, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. It's like the, you know, the network thing that they all talk about and that we should do and Yeah, it works. So, let's talk about uh Bad Dog tools. Okay, cool. Uh Bad Dog tools, we make uh specialty and multi-purpose tools for cutting and drilling. Um, so for instance, our handy disk, well, HD2, sorry, HD2, uh, which is available in sizes from inch, inch and a quarter all the way up to 9 in. It can cut um anything from those pre-tress pre-stressed concrete fence posts to uh PVC composite um rebar if you're I don't know pouring something um chain link all sorts of stuff. We've got drill bits, um cutting wheels. We just have um introduced our blue blade with what we're calling a tridaptor hole which has a worm drive uh 5/8 and then it can be converted also to a 7/8. So it's a really um unique arbor hole on a um blade that has a diamond edge on it. Self-sharpening diamond edge. So, I think it'll be uh and that actually we'll be we'll be introducing that at fence the fence show. So, when is that going to be um like available for purchase because I need some Well, now our show debut is going to be at the fence show. It's on the website now, right? Okay. Check it out. Yes. Yes to everything you said. So, it's just I mean tool after tool after tool. I mean all all you had to do is mention fire and whiskey or something. I mean you could only thing you could amend and make that thing better, right? You can use it as a tray for a for a flight. Right. You just walk around with an ordurve tray full of your your drill bits and Right. Genius idea. You were talking about buck bucket girl or bucket something costume. We have the bad dog costume and we always fight. I don't want to be bad dog today. You be bad dog today because we're inevitably either wearing it in Las Vegas or back here in the summer and you sweat your Yeah. Well, your soft we do have Susan if you need her because apparently she's not going to be wearing the uh bucket costume. So, it sounds like she's available. So, if you need someone to wear the bad dog tool, reach out to Susan at susanbow.com and let her let her know. Yeah, I vote I vote yes. There you go. Everybody get a picture of Susan in the bad dog costume. Yeah, that'd be fun. We'll have to make that happen. I love stumbling across you guys' videos on Facebook reels or uh Tik Tok. So, I was I was like 99% n% positive that it was the same thing. And then as soon as you said drill bits and blades, I was like, "Yes, that is exactly the one." So, uh that's that is uh that's pretty cool. I'm excited about your new circular saw blade coming out because I'm have to pick some of those up. Well, we've been at it since 1988. Yeah, we do. about 250 a year depending, you know, lots of different industries, lots of construction allied industry, which is where I would place the fence show. Yeah. And some some nonallied construction as well. We're we're heading out to a sand um it's the sand sports show right now and then we'll be do doubling back uh from California to do the fence show. That's awesome. Yeah, we we love that especially when tool companies and stuff and like yourselves get involved with us

Because it's you know unless we you guys come and find us and stuff and start really kind of realizing the fence industry. It's a large industry and we have a lot of trucks, a lot of guys and a lot of tools, a lot of bits and saws. So, it's kind of cool. Uh Billy, it's cool to see them coming aboard. Keith Eagle Keith from Eagle Fence Distributing LLC. What's going on, man? What What's happening, boys? How are we? What's going on, man? Pretty good, man. Pretty good. How about We're uh we're getting geared up for our little trip out to Las Vegas. I think everyone's uh everyone's super excited from our from our team to get out there and interact with uh a bunch of fence contractors. So, uh we'll be bringing credit apps. You've always said that. Bringing credits. We're bringing credit apps. So, we're uh we're fired up and ready to go. I know uh we had talked a little bit about you got the curriculum set for the chain link uh portion. Do you have that done, Brian? Yeah, I think Susan if she hasn't got you're you're helping on the chain link one. Is that what's going on? Well, I'm I'm willing to. I just we just need to get it all set. So, uh I'm going to be there. She's giving me the thumbs up in the back. So, uh she'll get you over whatever you need. I can see her. Tell her to get with me and I'll share with you what I what I was thinking about and you guys can you can put your stamp of approval on it. But anyway, so Eagle Fence um distributing we we started about 15 years ago with a single distribution location in Birmingham, Alabama. Today um for those that don't know, um we have nine locations. So we got Clearwater, Florida, which is in the Tampa market, uh Charlotte, uh North Carolina, Birmingham, Alabama, and then we jump down. We got Houston, Texas. We're in Sherman, Texas, which is outside of Dallas. um Oklahoma City, uh Little Rock, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. So, we've uh doing some growing. We're um rocking and rolling and servicing um you know, kind of a regional footprint in those areas. So, we you know, if we go back and look at the map that we use in our advertisement, it kind of the states that we're covering. Um significant amount of inventory at those locations. So, they're more than I would say, than a branch. they're more of a regional footprint that we use um trucks to service um all those markets. So, pretty much the the central part of the US out east and and we're, you know, we're looking to come west soon, but we'll see how that comes. We got we got our growth pattern um kind of um firing up on a steep trajectory, but we got to make sure that we take care of care of every customer and every employee along the way. So, yeah, I mean, it's been fun. Um, I'm coming up on 28 years in the fence business. So, I want to encourage anyone that's coming out to the fence show that wants to talk about um certainly we'll be there Tuesday for the chain link part um which is kind of my background, but anything that's related to um product or specifications um those type things. I I have never been on the install side, but um certainly if there's anybody that wants to certainly come by our booth and act out product or vendors or you know whether it's wood or steel or ornamental or PVC um you know be more than happy to have um those people. We'll be in the um uh homeland pavilion um I guess is kind of calling it um as we are a homeland dealer. So we'll be in booth 819 at the fence show. Um, I don't know how many people we've uh, you know, had sign up with our code, but we're out there sharing it and talking it up and we we hope to see um, everybody out in Vegas here just shortly. It's heck, it's going to be here before you know it. I know you guys have been working a lot of hours putting this thing together and um, so we're bringing a crew of six. I know. We're bringing a crew of six this year um to support the the show and our booth and um got some neat displays that we've put together and so we're super excited about um being there along along with the other um show participants to support the Well, the other five are already here. The other five of your teams already Oh, you don't want keep to know? No, no, no, no, no. They're they're like you said, they better not be, but rather they're spinning to me. They've been here for three days, man. I I like how he quickly was like, they

Better not be. They better not they better not be there yet. And and we love your guys' support since the very beginning. So, we really appreciate that. And um you know, and I was just at your Clearwater branch. That you went and saw Matt Matt way. He's our manager down there. That was super fun uh to see you down there. We got quite a little operation going there and they're they're having fun and doing good and taking care of um uh those customers. I saw you had the the H clan there in that video. So that that that didn't surprise me much. But um close I understand. And they frequent that place uh quite a bit. So and and we appreciate that. Yeah. I Brian, thank you for doing that and coming by. Yeah. Coming by. I wasn't I wasn't getting the area without visiting you guys. I don't know. Well, he's gone, but he's awesome. Who is this guy? Who is this guy? What What are you getting exercise, Sean? Is that what's happening? I don't know. Yeah, I'm trying to lose some weight. Try harder, man. You know how it is. I know. Demo day rear crowd tonight. We got Sean with CMM. These are all It's an all-star crowd tonight, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it is. So So Sean, tell everybody about CMM. Tell them who you are. Well, we're the number one routing manufacturer in the world for PVC and aluminum fence. Was that good? And for good reason, too. Run that through Chat TTP and have them shorten that a little bit. Okay. because we're doing a podcast. We ain't got time to be dragging intros on. Right. Right. No, we're we're located in South Bend, Indiana. Uh you know, both you two have been at our facility. Uh we're actually hosting demo days, baby. 2026. Um super pumped for it. We're excited. We'll be at the show in Vegas. We're going to have a little what 30 minute seminar, something like that, Brian, on on the Yep. on the importance of routing and uh we're pumped up, man. Yo, so this is so this came off of our conversation outside of by the food trucks. Yeah, we And Billy, we've been talking about it. What are we What are we going to do with the demo days? What are we gonna do with the demo days? And and uh and it was such a hit that I it needed to be its own event. So, um it's actually it's actually happening and we've been working on it with CMM and they got the perfect facility. We were there last time we were there. What? There was overund and some people that were there for that event that we were up there doing. Remember? So now Yeah. 107. Yeah. So now let's get uh let's get even more people. So April 17th to 18th and uh same thing. You're I mean you guys roll out the red carpet for us all over there, Sean. So I mean what you guys you guys could not ask we couldn't ask for any more, right? I mean it's it's amazing. So the facility though, we're going to have enough space and people are already kind of signing up for a hundred. These are outdoor booths, so 10 x10 popups. Uh about a hundred of those. So if you want to get more than that, you can. But um we're going to be able to drive some posts in the ground. We're going to be doing some everything that we wanted to do even last year, but on a larger scale. Nice. Nice. That's awesome. And no American Ninja Warrior, right? You won't have to fight the ninjas. No fear of being killed by the ninjas, right? When when Ninja Warrior shows up and says, "I need you guys to move over 10 feet." What do we do? We don't move over 10 feet. That was crazy in Vegas with that. That was wild. That was wild. But yeah, man. Dude, y'all really have the perfect facility for demo days. Um to be quite honest with you guys. and uh the fact that we can route all the vinyl or get the vinyl donated there and uh talk about it with so basically uh like two birds one stone. That's going to be a great time. Yeah. We're pumped. We got the suite again for the Southman Cubs for everyone who came out last year. Big Brian's throwing out the first pitch this year and uh we're we're jacked up.

Yeah. So uh if you when if you get to the show, I mean if you want first come, it's going to be first come first serve. at these booths and stuff. So, if you're at the show and you're listening, one of the exhibitors, and you've got some equipment you want to test out, stop by this DMM booth and uh talk to Sean. We're going to have um some information there, or you can go over the FWA booth area as well. So, uh reach out to either Sean or somebody, grab somebody from the FWA team or the Fen Show team and say, "I'm interested in the demo days." And uh we'll get you dialed in for the event. And um also just a little side note, if you guys have something that you want to try, like Brian said, uh let us know. Let us know so we can try to get that manufacturer there. I mean, you know, um we can only pull together so many ideas between the certain group of people. It's always nice to have somebody say, "Hey, I want to try this Takiuchi skid loader." Okay, nobody would have thought about that, right? So, like if you guys have any ideas, feel free to send them over to Susan at I believe it's susanfinshow.com. Um, you guys can message me as well. Uh, and just and just throw them out there, man. Throw out some ideas of what you would like to try to use tool-wise. Um, and just go from there. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It helps when we're trying to reach out to people to uh, you know, get uh, when we got people asking to have you there. So, definitely. Uh, what do we got here? So again, we're going to pull another uh question up from Fence Industry Only Group on Facebook. All right. So, I'm going to butcher this this this uh last name, and I'm sorry, Jeffrey Bola. I really doubt that's right, but I answered this question last night to him. Um and he responded to me that he already has them. Uh but my go-to thing is going to be like pulse hole notches or nibblers. Um, he's obviously looking for a faster way to do it. Um, I saw a couple people recommend a small Dremel sanding tool. That that would that would probably be a a good idea. Uh, uh, but my excuse me, but my go-to answer is just going to be post nibblers. Yeah, mine would be I don't know. I don't do aluminum, so I would assume it's aluminum. Use a can opener. I don't know. You know, it's a it's a tad thicker than that. It's a tad. But, uh, you know, that would just be my go-to answer. Um, because it just it just works for us. I understand if it doesn't work for you. Uh, maybe we can show you how to use them efficiently if that's what you're lacking. Um, and uh, yeah, man, we'll have them out at demo days for sure. I mean, I have four pairs in my trailer, so there there's that. All right. Looks like she's got one more question. Um, oh, man. Why does she do these she does these long questions? because she knows that I don't have the attention span to read a a question that long. That's why I'm reading it. Mike Kettler, he says, "Okay, I'm a oneman crew. Recently, I'm feeling like I need to simplify. I have an F550 flatbed 10-foot. I have a 7,000 lb equipment trailer. I have a 350 that is now my family car. Wow. I just built a new 20 foot 14 uh K deckover. I feel like all I do is maintenance on my vehicles and trailer. Is that trailer enough with a pickup? Thinking of getting rid of both truck and just have a crew cab 2500 3500 to use as a daily and to tow that trailer for fence. Who works with a pickup and deck over? Pros, cons. So what when he says deck over, is he just talking about like a 12oot flatbed or something on the back of it? So he's talking about the deck is over top of the wheels so you don't have a wheel well like sticking up. He's talking about trailers. Trailer. Okay. Oh, he's talking about trailers. We use both. Um at High Steel, we use uh we have a super fencer. If you guys don't know what that is, it's basically a semi-truck that has been declassified um from the weight range uh with a I think they're 30 foot beds. Okay. So, we use those. We also use service bodies with 20 foot deck over trailers. Uh they both have their pros and cons. Um for instance, the service body with the flatbed trailer. Um say you're say you're doing a big vinyl job, I promise you you're going to run out of space to put your trash at. I promise you that. Um so that's going to be a con for that.

Um a pro is to it uses a lot less gas and more more of your guys are comfortable driving it. Um, anytime we get a new guy who is on the Super Fencer crew and it's his turn to drive it, it it it looks like he is just scared shitless if I'm being honest with you. I would imagine. But after you learn how to drive them, they're they're really not bad. Um, pros to the Super Fencer, you don't have to teach somebody how to back up a trailer because in this day and age with all of our new young hires, a lot 95% of them don't know how to back up a trailer. And that's fine. Uh, but teaching somebody how to safely and properly back up a trailer does take longer than most people would expect. Uh, so that is a pro to the Super Fencer. Uh, and man, really just find what works for you and run with it. That's my that's my honest, you know, the the more vehicles you have, the more insurance, the more upkeep, you know, more equipment. I I try to, you know, run lean and mean. you I've got a lot of trucks on the road and I I'm not doing fencing, but I just everything needs to do double duty and you know you you you settle on the one that works the best. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Find what works best for you because man, what I've found in my teaching and training uh thing is that um even though you teach it one way, some people it just doesn't work for them. like no matter how many times you see them do it correctly, they're like, "This just isn't this just just is not working." So, I do always like to say on the back end, you know, take what works for you and leave what doesn't work for you. I am fine with that. So, same thing for my honest trucks. Yeah. Yeah. We uh we use flatbeds, we don't use trailers. Um but uh we're we're 350 to 550s and that's uh pretty much it. But that again, same issue. I wouldn't want my guys driving trailers around, you know, these hotels and casinos and different I guess if you're inside of a city, you probably don't have as many trailers. If you're out in rural areas, you could probably drive around with trailers. But, uh, we prefer the flatbeds unless we're going to haul something to powder coating or something on one of the trailers. But, um, I guess it depends on what kind of jobs you have, where you're at. But, um, a 350 is a bit extreme to be driving for a personal vehicle, I would think. I drive a 2500 and I think that's too much. My wife hates it because of how rough it is, but uh, you know, I mean, 350's got to be worse, right? So, uh, Ann, thank you for, uh, sticking on here and, uh, you know, saying goodbye to everybody. Sean, uh, thanks again for everything. And we didn't mention Sean's going to actually, uh, be helping out in the vinyl class as well that Victor Vasquest is doing along with some of the other people. So, that should be a Yeah. So, he'll be in there doing a quick talk about the CMM machines. So, um, everybody that's watching, hey, we're 14 days away from the fence show. If you haven't got your, uh, passes, get them quick. It's like standing room only almost at this point in the uh classrooms. So, get registered and if you not forget, Brian, we still have two free all access passes that I'm giving away. Um uh the deadline to comment on my post is Thursday at midnight and I'm going to announce the winner Friday after I get home from work. Uh so, make sure to make your way over to the Gatekeepers podcast Facebook page. It's the second post on there. just comment. And I'll I'll even I'll even sweeten the pot on that one. So, we're going to give one extra all access pass to the very last person that comments on that before you call the announcement. So, not only are you going to pick two random ones, the very last person that makes a comment on that is uh you know, and you could comment as many times as you want, by the way. So, but the very last person makes a comment before you you call the winners uh will get another pass. So, everybody hasn't registered, get on there. Uh, rooms are selling out, you know, real quick on the show and, uh, it's, uh, go to fenceshow.com, get registered, get your passes, get in these classes early. It's a first come, first serve, uh, you know, for the, uh, uh, seats. If you want a good spot up front in the table so you're not standing, get in the class, get there early. Um, we're excited to have everybody in Las Vegas. Billy, thanks for coming on host this again. Always appreciate it.

And Sean, we'll talk to you later. Everybody that's listening, thanks for uh tuning in. Yall have a wonderful night, guys. Yep. See you guys. Later, guys. Bye.